A New Beginning
by Itanu
Summary: -So Long, Mel...- These were Brad's last words to her... or so he thought. But when Brad finds her again one year later, his life takes turns he never saw coming. Brad/Melody. Rated for mild swearing and suggestive themes. Being put on hiatus, and/or due for deletion due to dissatisfaction on my part with the way this is currently written.
1. Business Trip?

Hello, everybody! Itanu here.

Let me start by saying that this is my first fic _ever_ for My Life as a Teenage Robot. I've been a fan of it for a while now, but I have not until now taken the initiative to use my writing abilities and jump into the fandom. Besides, I needed to take some time to actually get as well-acquainted as I could get with the show's fictional universe.

But enough of the small talk. Let's get crackin'!

I don't own Bradley or Tuck Carbunkle, or any other component of MLaaTR. They are copyright and trademark to Rob Renzetti and Nickelodeon. I did make up Sarah Carbunkle, however.

* * *

"So, class, in conclusion," the English teacher finished, "Tomorrow, your registration paperwork is due. Next week, we'll be starting the actual material."

Bradley Carbunkle held up his head with his left hand as he continued to look to the front of the classroom. His willpower struggled to prevent his eyes from traveling to his currently-unsupervised right hand, as it trailed where it wished on the blank side of the paper on his desk.

Just a week into Senior year, Brad could tell that this wasn't exactly going to be the corona of his high school life.

'_Besides,' _Brad thought,_ 'Not that much about high school is really much of a thrill anymore.'_

Right now, Brad felt as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders- and curiously, he didn't have a clue what it was about.

_R-r-r-r-ring!_

The sound of the last bell of the day was a welcome one to everybody in the room; by the time the teacher finished the act of bidding a good day to everyone, about three-quarters of the entire class had exited the room.

The teacher turned around after deeming everyone gone- only to see that Brad was still at his desk.

"Bradley?" the teacher started, earning an unenthusiastic grunt from the red-headed boy, "That was the bell."

"Huh? Oh, Right!" Brad responded. He packed up his backpack, mounted it on his shoulder, and paced to the door. Then, hiding his inexplicable sorrow, he added, "See ya tomorrow, Teach!" And then, he was gone.

* * *

As he walked out of Tremorton High's courtyard, Brad reviewed his Schedule.

First period was Calculus, which they'd already started doing. Boredom had never yielded such a headache in his life before. Thank God he had come to school early and done his homework ahead of time, then. Granted, he had rushed through, but at least he didn't have to worry about it tonight.

Brad's attempt to go over second period was interrupted by his notification of interactions between other students. As he'd gone through the halls earlier, he had also seen quite a bit of interaction. Walking, talking… some couples were even holding hands. Brad couldn't help a bit of envy and guilt adding on to his inexplicable feeling.

"Nope," Brad scolded himself, "can't let anything get me down tonight!"

As fate would have it, Brad himself had a date- someone he could walk, talk, and hold hands with. And for once, he didn't have to pay the girl for it first. Ironic, considering the girl was Teresa, a young lady an old friend of Brad's had paid for a relationship… though, unlike this date, that one had been mainly for the sake of rousing envy in another girl. But this date was genuine- tomorrow afternoon, he'd finally be able to use those smooth, irresistible moves of his!

Curiously, this attempt at self-reassurance made Brad feel even worse.

The red-head decided to try to think of something else, since any thoughts regarding affection seemed to be depressing him. He then remembered the piece of paper he'd been drawing on. Though his lazily slouching arm told him not to do it, his curiosity about what his hand had made proved a far more powerful calling.

Upon bringing the paper up to his face, Brad only saw a series of random, unorganized lines. No surprise, really- it was, after all, a doodle he hadn't even seen the making of. Yet, upon thinking about throwing it away as he passed a trash can, he felt his gut turning.

'_Ah, great,'_ he thought as he rolled his eyes, _'another downfall for the collection.'_

Brad put the paper in his backpack, and shrugged. It was, after all, a harmless little doodle; holding onto it until the idea of throwing it away felt less strenuous wouldn't really hurt anyone.

After a few minutes of slow walking, Brad felt a slight tickling feeling on the back of his neck. Then another- and another.

'_Dear God, please, no… I'm not even halfway home yet!'_ Brad prayed silently. But this was in vain- in just three seconds, rain was coming down like there was no tomorrow.

"Ugh, this can't get any worse, can it?!" Brad exclaimed rhetorically as he took off running into the direction of his house.

When Brad turned right on the next street a few minutes later, he failed to notice a car coming in the lane just next to him- or the nearby puddles of water in its way.

* * *

"…And then, he showed me how to actually attach the nerve wire to the shoulder joint!" Tuck explained enthusiastically to his mother, his diminuitive frame almost bouncing up and down in his seat, moving his black hair and the seat itself with him.

"That's very cool, honey," Tuck's mother, one Sarah Carbunkle by name, responded after swallowing her food, "but aren't you going to eat? You haven't even touched your plate yet."

Tuck opened his mouth to speak once more, but the sound of the door creaking open brought the attention and silence of both occupants at the table. They turned around, and sure enough, there was Brad. He was soaking wet, from both the rain and getting splashed by oncoming cars; his red, now-wet hair was matted all over his face, allowing only his mouth and chin to be visible.

There was a moment of silence after the redheaded boy closed the door behind him. Brad himself stood speechless on the Welcome carpet. His little brother and mom simply stared with uncertainty of what to say.

"Err… Hi, Bradley," Sarah finally greeted, breaking the silence.

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Tuck." Brad headed for the stairs mid-response, following up by adding, "I'm going to go dry myself off."

* * *

The table was somewhat silent for the first two minutes that Brad sat down, though it felt much longer to all the residents of the table. No matter how up or down Brad felt, he had grown to almost always dislike silence whenever there were friends or family to make conversation with. But, Brad reasoned, what was there to talk about? His day at school was hardly noteworthy; Tuck had probably said all he could about what he'd learned from Sheldon in his last tutoring session; and their mom had had a fairly standard work day, Brad was willing to bet.

"Hey, guys?" Sarah said, getting her sons' attention, "I've got an announcement to make."

Both brothers seemed attentive enough- albeit, not as tuned in as she'd like- so she continued, "Our Company seems to be having a few economic problems in South America…"

Brad's eyes opened up a bit as he lifted a spoonful of mashed potatoes to his mouth. He didn't like where this was going. He had to jinx everything with his thoughts, didn't he?

"…So I'm going on a business trip. I'll be leaving very early tomorrow morning."

Brad slowed down his chewing rate, and Tuck just blinked, speechless for a moment. "How long will you be gone?" the younger brother finally managed to ask.

"If all goes well," Sarah sighed, "I should be back on Monday morning."

As Tuck did some counting on his fingertips, Brad nearly gagged on his food. Was this really happening? Of all the nights for him to end up babysitting his little brother, did it really have to be on the night of his date?

"That's three days!" Tuck exclaimed suddenly, after four seconds of counting.

"I know it seems long, honey, but it'll pass by before you know it."

"You're going to leave me in _Brad's_ hands for three days?"

"Well, actually… no." Sarah used her knife to cut another square of meat. When she'd cut it out, she continued, "I have arranged for you to stay at Sheldon's house during that time. Tomorrow, Sheldon's mom will be driving you to- and picking you up from- school. You alright with that, Tuck?"

Tuck took this in for a moment. Then, his frown practically turned upside-down; the resulting smile then stretched from ear to ear. As the black-haired child started to cackle with excitement, Sarah turned to her older son.

"Bradley," Sarah said, "You're going to take care of the house during that time. Understand?"

Brad, who had now achieved peace enough to swallow the mouthful he'd almost choked on, now took this in. He also realized at this moment that, strictly speaking, he had the house all to himself- without any intervention with his date plan. Whatever trace of that inexplicably depressing feeling had been there now dissipated entirely.

"Having the house all to myself? Sounds great to me!" Brad agreed enthusiastically with a substantial grin on his face.

"Now, it's not going to be as simple as just that," Sarah corrected, "I'll wake you up really early tomorrow and fill you in on basic rules and to-do's. Got it?"

"Alright," Brad agreed. By this time, he'd finished his plate. "I'm going to turn in early, okay?" he called to his mom as he brought his plate to the counter.

"All right, hon. Good night!"

"Good night, Brad!"

Just as he arrived at the top of the staircase leading to his room, Brad heard his mother add, "Oh, and Bradley?"

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Your friend Jenny called and left a message. Check it out, and when you get a chance, give her a call back."

"Will do, Mom. G'night!"

Brad then disappeared into his room, and jumped onto his bed. Before settling in, he recalled the registration paper his English teacher needed. He reached down into his backpack- which he'd set next to the bed earlier- and pulled the form out. He set it on his nightstand, and turned the lights off.

_Mom'll sign it tomorrow,_ he reasoned. And with that, he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Well, hopefully, this isn't too bad a start, though I understand that it's kind of rushed. Any advice on how to fix that would be appreciated.


	2. First Day on the Job

Hey, everyone! Itanu here, with Chapter Two of "A New Beginning".

Now, let me tell everyone something: If you guys all remember what the AN at the end of the last chapter said, well... I had predicted incorrectly. If you don't remember, then please don't worry about it. It's no biggie.

Fair warning: There _is_ a curse word in here. Just to let you all know.

I do not own MLaaTR or any of the characters or settings therein. The show and all underlying components are Copyright and Trademark to Nickelodeon and, more significantly, Rob Renzetti.

Here we go!

* * *

_I'm not... I can't see anything consistently- it's all just sort of flickering. But I can feel my way around- that's what I'm doing right now. Maybe I can find... him... get one last glimpse of him, if I can. Maybe... well, I don't think it'll do anything. It won't save me. I might still not want to be saved._

_But if I could... see him one last time... That's all I'd need._

* * *

The next morning was like ultimately any other in Tremorton- birds made all sorts of clamor, and the people driving their noisy vehicles this early seemed to be trying to maximize the sound pollution they caused.

Brad reflexively brought his pillow around his ears and flopped onto his belly as a means of defense; this seemed to work until he heard the one sound no teenager could ever truly shun: his alarm clock.

"What?" the young man groaned as he looked at his digital clock, lifting his pillow slightly to do so. When he saw the time, he tightened the pillow back onto his head, adding, "It's Four o'clock in the morning. Why-?"

As soon as he remembered his 'duty' to protect the house, the teenager shot out of his bed, and within five minutes, he'd taken care of his hygiene and was heading down the stairs.

As he approached the kitchen, Bradley could feel something wasn't quite right, triggering him to pause in his tracks. It was odd, really- though it wasn't necessarily a 'bad' feeling, he could tell something was missing. Shrugging, Brad started walking (though staggering may have been a better word for it) into the kitchen again, and headed immediately to his cabinet to grab some breakfast.

_Two and a half minutes later…_

As Brad munched eagerly on his dry cereal (he'd decided not to waste time adding milk), he attempted to review his plans for the day. It wasn't really a good effort- all of it would narrow back down to his anticipation for his date with Teresa.

At that moment, Brad realized what the earlier anomaly was: the coffee maker wasn't running; nor did its intended product reside within the kettle.

"Huh," Brad muttered as best he could through his tired, croaking voice, "that's funny. Mom never leaves that thing alone."

Brad took a moment to ponder it for a bit.

'_Ah, well,_ Brad concluded, _'she's probably just sleeping in.'_

Brad didn't even wait to chew his food when he'd finished his breakfast. He now zoomed back up to his room, still masticating the mouthful of cereal. This was his opportunity to put the final touches on his pickup lines.

* * *

"Ah," a lonely figure sighed happily as she looked through a telescope into the night sky. She continued, in a most peculiar accent, "Nothing like a bit of astronomy in the early morn!"

The elderly woman, one Dr. Nora Wakeman by name, pulled her eye from the lens of her gargantuan telescope, and looked down at her watch.

"Hmm..." she muttered, it's almost time to get XJ-9 up." Dr. Wakeman resisted the urge to grind her teeth. Really, why did the call of duty always have to happen when a breakthrough was just around the corner? She continued, "I guess I'd better pack up for now."

As the scientist reached for the button to retract the telescope, though, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked up, noticing a red-orange light in the sky. Her first intuition was to dismiss it as the sun- it was, after all, morning, was it not? The sun does have to rise eventually. But it didn't take long for her to consider that, unlike the sun, this light was not hurting her eyes- nor was it enveloping Tremorton in its rays. Something was wrong... very wrong. Without prompt and ceremony, she crammed her eye back into the lens of the telescope and aimed her sights onto the anomaly. Upon inspection, it turned out that the light was emanating through the clouds, growing more and more intense. It continued to intensify like this for about a minute. Then... it stopped suddenly.

Nora was puzzled. She'd seen some pretty weird things in her life- the aliens of the Cluster being a prime example- but this was the first phenomenon she had seen in a long time that both interested and confused her at the same time. Suddenly, the light flashed once more, and without warning, what looked like a huge fireball jettisoned from the clouds down to the ground, landing in the middle of the forested area behind a neighboring suburb.

Now, the Doctor was at a total loss for words. Whatever this thing was, it didn't _seem_ hostile- it didn't even appear to be animate. Nonetheless, there was no denying that this was something to be investigated. Soon, at that. Jenny had school, though, so the idea of sending her after it was out of the question. Besides, this didn't seem like a big threat- at least, not yet.

Nora looked with determination to the forest in which the object had landed. As she started to put away her telescope, she reached a resolution for her dilemma: she would go after it herself, later today.

* * *

"Hey, Baby... You feelin' lucky tonight?" Brad said as suavely as he could as he stroked his chin with a razor.

Brad thought about what he had just said. Pathetic.

"You know," Brad started over, "you're so hot, I'll bet you could cook every dish in this restaurant just being here."

That one's pretty good, Brad thought. Yep, he'd hold onto that one. Having satisfied himself with his pickup line practice (he'd already been at it for ten minutes in front of the mirror in this way), he washed off his razor, discarded it, and wiped his face off with a towel. Man, this night was going to be great! A beautiful girlfriend, a chance to be alone with her, and maybe a kiss if he played his cards right.

As Brad fantasized, he suddenly felt a sort of lightheaded feeling come unto him. Then, nausea. Man, what was with him lately? Yesterday, he felt a manic depression with no real basis. Last night, he'd hardly been able to ingest dinner. And now, he felt like throwing up. It was like he'd suddenly been infected with a parasite of some kind- or at least like he'd been pumped full of charcoal. Under normal circumstances, he'd probably just take a few medicines, but this... couldn't have been a worse time. The only medicine he knew of that his house had for nausea had more than a few unpleasant side effects that could intervene with his date, and his general popularity status at the school. Brad shuddered for a moment as the nightmarish image of him belching loudly in front of Pteresa went through his mind.

"Nope," Brad reasoned, "I'm just stressed out, that's all. I'll... err, um... just take a walk! _That's_ exactly what I really need, now." The young man grabbed his cell phone off of his bed, and headed downstairs. He knew of a nice little pathway going through the woods to walk through- perfect for soothing his troubled mind.

Entering the garage was an essential part of the plan; while the sun was technically out, it definitely wasn't bright enough to see much in front of oneself, especially surrounded by the shading of trees. Logically, the red-headed boy needed a flashlight.

Brad entered the garage. The door closed behind him before he could even reach the light switch, which left the young man stumbling about in the darkness as he tried to find it. Finally, he found it.

It was upon flipping the switch that Brad saw that the vehicle was missing. The teenager stood motionless for a moment. Did someone masterfully steal the car while the door was still open last night? Was a friend borrowing it?

But alas, it didn't take long for Brad to figure out what the case was:

His mom had already left. No warning, no goodbye, nothing- just the absence of the vehicle.

"Dammit!" Brad swore angrily. He growled subsequently, and proceeded to stomp out of the garage, through the house, and out the back door. He didn't even bother to take the flashlight- he wouldn't need it.

"She always does this!" Brad ranted after locking the door behind him, "every time, she just heads off to do her own thing without even giving Tuck or me a heads-up! That-!"

Bradley snarled, sucking his temper back in with his breath. There was a pause; a moment of silence, of consideration.

"What am I doing?" Brad sighed, breaking the silence, "I'm acting like a stupid little kid," he continued. He was feeling far more irritable than usual this morning, fair enough, but even he knew when he was taking it too far.

He was now at the edge of the wooded area he had intended to walk through.

"All right!" said Bradley in a sudden, cheerful, polar twist from his anger session, "I'm going to go in, take a nice walk, and forget this ever happened."

Suddenly his usual happy-go-lucky self again, Brad started whistling a tune as he headed into the darkness of the forest.

* * *

Well, there it is. Again, if you guys and gals out there have any suggestions at all for how to improve this chapter, _please_ let me know.

See ya'll next chapter!


End file.
